Sand dough place values

Dear Reader,

I know that place values are way above what my preschooler is ready for… but is it, though? I mean, do I actually expect her to understand and grasp entirely what we were talking about? No way. But she is has an incredible sense of numbers that I did not have at her age. And when the opportunity came up, I definitely seized it.

Anyway, I digress… today we played with sand dough. We play with sand dough regularly, but my preschooler got a set of letters and numbers for Christmas, and she is very proud of that ownership. And since she always loves numbers, when she made the one and the zero, she got excited about it making the number 10. And then the wheels started turning and you could see it. “What happens if I add another zero?” So, I told her to do it and see! Then I said, “look, you just made 100!” and it grew from there all the way to one million.

I know this wont be the only time we talk about it, because she’s not ready to completely grasp the concept of place values, but I loved seeing the brainwaves happen. [nerd fact: From a science perspective, it’s called myelination – reinforcing thought patterns in our brains. Basically the more you hear and see something, the more you will understand the concept. And from a teacher perspective, it’s called scaffolding – basically that when you introduce a new concept you need to build up to it].